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Council of the EU discussed the cybersecurity package

26 October 2017

On 24 October, the Ministers in charge of telecommunications and digital affairs from all Member States held their first Telecommunications formal meeting under the Estonian Presidency. The meeting was chaired by Urve Palo, Estonian Minister of Entrepreneurship and IT.

This discussion built on the European Council meeting, last week, and on the Tallinn Digital Summit, on 29 September.

Digital Single Market

The Estonian presidency recalled that the Heads of State and Government tasked their Ministers to boost the completion of the Digital Single market files by the end of next year.

The Ministers agreed on three priorities regarding the Digital Single market: abolishing geo-blocking, advancing on the Audio Visual media Services Directive and the Parcel Delivery Regulation.

Cybersecurity

The Ministers underlined that “Europe must become the trailblazer for global cybersecurity”. A large number of Ministers advocated for greater resources for cybersecurity. The Estonian Presidency, jointly with the upcoming Bulgarian and Austrian presidencies, will work on an Action Plan to implement this cybersecurity package.

The Estonian IT Minister also mentioned the proposal on ENISA and on cyber certification that Ministers have begun examining during this meeting. The Ministers supported the need for a voluntary certification scheme. However, several delegations highlighted that this system should not hamper innovation.

In addition, the Ministers discussed accelerating the implementation of the NIS Directive, “which needs to be integrated into the legal framework of all EU Member States by May 2018”.